Daniel Nava to play left field in Game Three

ST. LOUIS -- For the first time since Game Four of the American League Championship Series, Daniel Nava will be in the Red Sox lineup in left field in Game Three of the World Series on Saturday at Busch Stadium.

ST. LOUIS -- For the first time since Game Four of the American League Championship Series, Daniel Nava will be in the Red Sox lineup in left field in Game Three of the World Series on Saturday at Busch Stadium.

Because his gut told him to go with Jonny Gomes for as long as every game Gomes started ended in a Red Sox victory -- a span of seven straight games entering Game Two of the World Series -- Farrell kept right on going with Gomes.

The problem was that Gomes himself wasn't producing. The veteran has hit .156 with a .206 on-base percentage in 34 plate appearances since the playoffs began. Since the start of the ALCS, the start of an indefinite run of righthanded starters take the mound against the Red Sox, Gomes is 3-for-23 with eight strikeouts and no walks.

His production stands in stark contrast to that of Nava, who was one of the American League's best hitters against righthanded pitchers during the regular season. Nava has hit .308 with a .438 on-base percentage in 16 plate appearances in the playoffs. He doubled and scored in a pinch-hit plate appearance in Game One of the World Series, and he struck out in the ninth inning in Game Two.

"I've tried to stay in the game at least mentally with a couple of at-bats and take myself through an at-bat as if I'm doing it," he said. "Everyone has their own routine. That's what mine's been. It helped a lot to get those two at-bats the last two or three days."